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The Ninth Martini

By Craig L. Andrews

Fiction, Completed, 82,000 Words

Synopsis

Zack Hawkshaw, a veteran NSA agent, is thrust into an assignment to stop a foreign agent who has unique mental abilities. When Zack learns that the last several years of his career has been manipulated by shadowy elements of the intelligence community to prepare him for such an assignment, only his sense of duty prevents him from resigning. Ironically the mental enhancements foist upon Zack during his participation in a CIA project, although abhorrent to him, provide him with the only way to save his recent ladylove and to stop a sinister conspiracy.

Excerpts from the Book

Prologue
The decade before the millennium has been one of revelations on many fronts of technology, but perhaps none leave us pondering our future more than the two mentioned in these pages.

In July 1995 the CIA declassified, and released documents disclosing its support of research in parapsychology, which covered a period from the 70's up to 1993. On the Nightline TV program aired on 28 November 1995 a mysterious person reported to have been from the CIA discussed their research. The research dealt with a discipline called Remote Viewing. Although seemingly too incredible and too enigmatic for any self-respecting government to acknowledge, the implications point to potentially paradigm shattering changes in conventional intelligence and military security strategy.

Nearly at the time the CIA claimed they closed out their work in remote viewing, another potentially paradigm altering program was initiated by another branch of the government. In late 1993 the Air Force and Navy embarked on a different, but equally arcane information gathering frontier, and although it was possibly more conventional, it still encompassed mind-blowing objectives. Their cooperative effort focused on the development of the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, otherwise noted as HAARP. The main element of HAARP is a large radio wave transmitter, the antenna of which, covers as much as forty acres of the earth's surface near Gakona, Alaska. The energy that this antenna will beam into the upper atmosphere has been theorized by many scientists to be nothing less than astronomical. Within this colossus is the potential for global weather and communication control.

It's not unreasonable to conjecture that a foreign government or an aspiring radical political faction might covet HAARP'S capabilities, and technical details, especially those details complementing duplication of designs. In the same vein, it seems likely that even though the cold war may have ended, the pre-cold war para-psychological research by our adversaries has undoubtedly been continued with nefarious intent.

It is to the realm of the aspiring political faction that our attention should gravitate. Without question, in such an ambitious collective, we would discover the ruthless looking for a way to leverage their way into power. It is therefore, not inconceivable that HAARP and remote viewing would be woven into the same web of ambitions.

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Zack Hawkshaw crept cautiously up the shabby stairs toward the second floor hall of the Lambert Building, his 9mm automatic pistol pointed skyward like an alert attack dog, ready to hunt, ready for the expected fire-fight. It had been several years since he had been in a touchy situation where pieces of lead could fly in his direction. The last time he had faced bullets seeking gratification in his body was probably during his period in the Navy Seals. Despite his refresher training with the agency, he could feel his knees yielding like rubber.

Running through his brain, along with his self-reminder to stay focused, was the momentary sanity check. Why in the hell did he accept a field assignment that included bullets as an appetizer? Repeatedly ducking projectiles from an idiot's gun wasn't exactly an intelligent career path. He was getting too old for this crap. He shouldn't have volunteered for the assignment, shouldn't have taken the lead up the stairs to keep Willard's head away from the bullets so his wife and kids wouldn't have to rely on his government survivor benefits before the parking meter of life expired.

"Zack, you want the optical cable viewer?" Willard whispered.

Zack frowned at him.

Willard added, "I knew I should have taken the lead, you hard ass."

"I'm not planning on going far," Zack whispered back.

"It's your head, partner."

Zack reached up and turned the doorknob, keeping his head as close to the wall as he could.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

An automatic something ripped three holes in the door. The third bullet missed Zack's arm by an inch. He snapped his arm back pressing himself tightly against the wall. The wall safety was too late, but he hadn't been hit.

The automatic remained silent.

"I think I do want that optical cable after all," Zack said, catching his breath. "I'm afraid this isn't going to be a walk in the park."

Willard moved back down the stairs four steps to get a small equipment case from the other agent.

The CB radio on Zack's belt crackled. As he jerked it angrily from the holder at his hip, and hit the button, two bullets barked through the center of the door.

"Damn radio," Zack barked. He ducked and slid down three steps, "Yeah, Hawkshaw here."

"This the dispatcher."

"Yeah, what do ya want?" Zack barked. "We're in the middle of a situation here and I don't need any . . ."

"Hold on Hawkshaw, I got orders for you. They are as follows. You are to pull yourself out of that operation immediately. You are not to engage any armed hostile. You are to report immediately to Bill McCracken at your office as soon as possible. Is that clear?"

"I was assigned to this operation," Zack countered. "What do you guys have for brains?"

"The orders have been given. Is that clear?"

"Yes, that is clear," Zack cursed. It might be clear, but they could stick it where the sun didn't shine.

"Then I'm out."



Copyright © Craig L. Andrews 2001

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